What do you think?
Rate this book
The Great Dead Body Teachers: An adventure into the world of anatomy and dissection
'Since I was a child, I’ve been interested in dead bodies. When I was eight years old, I dug up the remains of my pet budgie Zazbut. He had been buried for about eight weeks in a patch of grass outside our house in Dasmarinas, a fortified village in Manila, in the Philippines.
‘The first exhumation was the beginning of my intrigue with death, which has persisted. As a journalist, I’ve written about graveyards, funerals and death doulas. I always visit the local cemetery wherever I am in the world. But one thing that has largely been hidden from me in this death trip is the dead body.'
Dissection might not be a normal topic to contemplate but when both your paternal grandparents donate their bodies to science it does intermittently cross your mind. This is the story of how Jackie Dent’s grandparents—Ruby and Julie—gave their bodies to science when they died. No one in her family seems to know why, or what really happened with their bodies afterwards. Were they avid science buffs? Was it to save on cremation costs? How do scientists tackle the practicalities and ethics of cutting up the dead for research? And who are body donors generally?
Weaving the personal with the history of anatomy and the dissected, Jackie Dent explores the world of whole-body donation — all the while looking for answers as to what happened to her grandparents.
‘The first exhumation was the beginning of my intrigue with death, which has persisted. As a journalist, I’ve written about graveyards, funerals and death doulas. I always visit the local cemetery wherever I am in the world. But one thing that has largely been hidden from me in this death trip is the dead body.'
Dissection might not be a normal topic to contemplate but when both your paternal grandparents donate their bodies to science it does intermittently cross your mind. This is the story of how Jackie Dent’s grandparents—Ruby and Julie—gave their bodies to science when they died. No one in her family seems to know why, or what really happened with their bodies afterwards. Were they avid science buffs? Was it to save on cremation costs? How do scientists tackle the practicalities and ethics of cutting up the dead for research? And who are body donors generally?
Weaving the personal with the history of anatomy and the dissected, Jackie Dent explores the world of whole-body donation — all the while looking for answers as to what happened to her grandparents.
- GenresNonfictionDeath
378 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 8, 2023
16 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 3, 2023
God I LOVE reading about peoples' obscure research rabbit holes.
This book was fascinating - not only because it was about body dissection and anatomy (which is immensely interesting all on its own) but also because it is about Jackie Dent's research journey; how and why she became interested in the topic, and how she managed to do such in-depth research about something so shrouded in mystery.
Jackie's interest in researching anatomy and dissection began because her grandparents donated their bodies to a university to be dissected in the name of medical research and education. I loved that Jackie's research spanned all aspects of anatomy; from the broader perspective to the nitty gritty to the purely scientific to the intensely personal.
I have my own experience in this field - I studied an allied health degree to become a speech pathologist. Part of this included two anatomy units from first and second year. We had to dissect the arm/hand as well as the face, neck, torso, brain, and cranial nerves. Looking back, I don't remember how I actually felt during these classes. I remember feeling weird because I didn't feel weird. I kept telling myself, "you are looking at a real human brain. Someone's memories, personality, everything about them was in here" and yet it still remained beyond my comprehension. I think Jackie's book reinforced how truly bizarre it is to be faced with someone's body like that, and being asked to study it. She described this elusive experience in a way that I never could.
I loved this book. Kudos to Jackie Dent for writing such a detailed, nuanced, and fascinating read.
This book was fascinating - not only because it was about body dissection and anatomy (which is immensely interesting all on its own) but also because it is about Jackie Dent's research journey; how and why she became interested in the topic, and how she managed to do such in-depth research about something so shrouded in mystery.
Jackie's interest in researching anatomy and dissection began because her grandparents donated their bodies to a university to be dissected in the name of medical research and education. I loved that Jackie's research spanned all aspects of anatomy; from the broader perspective to the nitty gritty to the purely scientific to the intensely personal.
I have my own experience in this field - I studied an allied health degree to become a speech pathologist. Part of this included two anatomy units from first and second year. We had to dissect the arm/hand as well as the face, neck, torso, brain, and cranial nerves. Looking back, I don't remember how I actually felt during these classes. I remember feeling weird because I didn't feel weird. I kept telling myself, "you are looking at a real human brain. Someone's memories, personality, everything about them was in here" and yet it still remained beyond my comprehension. I think Jackie's book reinforced how truly bizarre it is to be faced with someone's body like that, and being asked to study it. She described this elusive experience in a way that I never could.
I loved this book. Kudos to Jackie Dent for writing such a detailed, nuanced, and fascinating read.
May 14, 2023
i have absolutely no idea how or what to write other than i enjoyed listening to jackie narrate her journey through discovering the how’s and whys behind medical dissection and the reason behind her grandparents decision to donate their bodies to science.
throughout the book jackie talks about a multitude of topics ranging from her childhood budgie to the rich and fascinating history behind medical dissection.
jackie goes to great lengths to learn more about dissection and why people choose to donate their bodies to science. she also talks about her fears of being cold after death and how this impacts her decision on donating her body after death. this was an interesting take, something i’d not actually thought about before, i hate being cold alive so i doubt i’d enjoy it after death, haha!!
there is so much in this book it can feel overwhelming.. it’s a plethora of information that i’m sure i will forget until the most inappropriate of times when i will absolutely relay it to those around me (watch out coworkers!!)
the story really cemented within me the desire to donate my body to science. it’s always been something i’ve pondered but now i am certain that i want my body to be donated. to me, it would be an absolute privilege to be used after death to educate!!
all in all the great dead body teachers was an absolutely fascinating read. 100% recommend picking it up on the cover alone! seriously the cover is beautiful and i am in love with it, HAHA but seriously the way jackie narrates the book was such an amazing experience. her story and the things i learnt within her pages will stay with my a long time!!
throughout the book jackie talks about a multitude of topics ranging from her childhood budgie to the rich and fascinating history behind medical dissection.
jackie goes to great lengths to learn more about dissection and why people choose to donate their bodies to science. she also talks about her fears of being cold after death and how this impacts her decision on donating her body after death. this was an interesting take, something i’d not actually thought about before, i hate being cold alive so i doubt i’d enjoy it after death, haha!!
there is so much in this book it can feel overwhelming.. it’s a plethora of information that i’m sure i will forget until the most inappropriate of times when i will absolutely relay it to those around me (watch out coworkers!!)
the story really cemented within me the desire to donate my body to science. it’s always been something i’ve pondered but now i am certain that i want my body to be donated. to me, it would be an absolute privilege to be used after death to educate!!
all in all the great dead body teachers was an absolutely fascinating read. 100% recommend picking it up on the cover alone! seriously the cover is beautiful and i am in love with it, HAHA but seriously the way jackie narrates the book was such an amazing experience. her story and the things i learnt within her pages will stay with my a long time!!
April 6, 2023
As someone who spends a decent amount of time thinking about death and how I want my body to be composted (great for the garden) this was ideal subject material for me. Dent’s paternal grandparents donated their bodies to medical research, an unusual choice, which sparked a quest for her to find out more about dissection, anatomy and what it all means. Fascinating! I love to see a writer follow an obsession wherever it might lead them, it makes for the best non-fiction writing. I have a lot to say about this book (and a lot of questions to ask) and will be doing so on @abcinmelbourne on Tuesday at 1:40pm as well as during an in-conversation event with Jackie Dent at @sorrentowritersfestival on April 27.
Read
February 17, 2025Jesus Christ this took forever to read even though it wasn’t that long. It feels weird to rate something even vaguely memoir-related because what am I supposed to say? “I don’t care about your life story.” “Mid???”
November 17, 2025
Incredibly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book for someone who doesn’t like dead things nor the thought of anatomy and dissection! Jackie is hilarious and covers so many aspects I had never even considered.
September 30, 2023
Not a subject for everyone but listening to the audiobook was interesting without being heavy. I've never thought much about body donation before but I'm sure I will be more in the future.
October 12, 2025
Things I learned from this book:
- Dissection videos on YouTube
- Sydney uni has an annual dissection competition
- Dissection museums
- Embalming is more craft than science, mould is a big problem for dead bodies
- Gunter von hargens (body world)
- Until 1980s if you died in Australia in a mental hospital you’d automatically go for dissection.
- In Africa they use criminals and unclaimed bodies. Mostly anglo bodies. Thats confusing … trying not yo use unclaimed bodies now.
- Claire Smith at Briton university wrote a book on this shit, also dissected a woman on bbc 4
- Uni of Melbourne gets around 200 bodies per year and that’s more than enough.
- No private donations in Australia, all bodies go to universities.
- Bodies are us (paper on the commercialisation of body donation)
- In Australia all body donations is consensual. No true in most places in the world.
- To buy a body from the USA costs about $15,000
- Free cremation after donation
- Donation process can be lengthy and at the end you may not be accepted.
- Tends to be a family thing, people don’t know or think about it so don’t tend to do it. Becomes a family tradition.
- Reasons to donate: 1) think their body is interesting. 2) some people really hate a relative so use body donation to skip a funeral 3) altruism
- Reasons not to donate: 1) cultural reasons
- Body farm: originally overwhelmed by bodies. Jodie ward (who runs facility) really interested in missing bodies.
- Funeral homes cannot organise body donation but they facilitate the donation. Must be done through a university, lots of paperwork to fill out and next of kin needs to approve. Greg Inglis is a funeral director and he’s mansplaning quite a bit, said he has removed a brain for a uni and cremated the rest, just follow the paperwork set up by the university. Hard for people who are in regional areas and not close to a uni.
- The work of the dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains by Thomas W. Laqueur
- If you donate you can’t choose anything, you can’t choose what part of you is studied and you will be cremated after you’re no longer useful.
- The unit’s can keep the bodies for 5-10 years and cremation is organised by the uni.
- Macquire university allows burial but you must have a pre paid plot (might want to fact check that - rando lady said this and I’m not sure who she is. Kate M) Bec said in some places you can choose burial but people don’t because cremation is cheaper.
- NSW is getting VAD in a few months
- Pyres are allowed in Tasmania on Aboriginal land.
- John Donne dissection poetry
- You have to have a certain BMI to be donated
- Uni do get full up, sometimes they prioritise some bodies over others (speculation by Kate M who is a POA for a 99 yo friend who’s being donated)
- Dissection videos on YouTube
- Sydney uni has an annual dissection competition
- Dissection museums
- Embalming is more craft than science, mould is a big problem for dead bodies
- Gunter von hargens (body world)
- Until 1980s if you died in Australia in a mental hospital you’d automatically go for dissection.
- In Africa they use criminals and unclaimed bodies. Mostly anglo bodies. Thats confusing … trying not yo use unclaimed bodies now.
- Claire Smith at Briton university wrote a book on this shit, also dissected a woman on bbc 4
- Uni of Melbourne gets around 200 bodies per year and that’s more than enough.
- No private donations in Australia, all bodies go to universities.
- Bodies are us (paper on the commercialisation of body donation)
- In Australia all body donations is consensual. No true in most places in the world.
- To buy a body from the USA costs about $15,000
- Free cremation after donation
- Donation process can be lengthy and at the end you may not be accepted.
- Tends to be a family thing, people don’t know or think about it so don’t tend to do it. Becomes a family tradition.
- Reasons to donate: 1) think their body is interesting. 2) some people really hate a relative so use body donation to skip a funeral 3) altruism
- Reasons not to donate: 1) cultural reasons
- Body farm: originally overwhelmed by bodies. Jodie ward (who runs facility) really interested in missing bodies.
- Funeral homes cannot organise body donation but they facilitate the donation. Must be done through a university, lots of paperwork to fill out and next of kin needs to approve. Greg Inglis is a funeral director and he’s mansplaning quite a bit, said he has removed a brain for a uni and cremated the rest, just follow the paperwork set up by the university. Hard for people who are in regional areas and not close to a uni.
- The work of the dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains by Thomas W. Laqueur
- If you donate you can’t choose anything, you can’t choose what part of you is studied and you will be cremated after you’re no longer useful.
- The unit’s can keep the bodies for 5-10 years and cremation is organised by the uni.
- Macquire university allows burial but you must have a pre paid plot (might want to fact check that - rando lady said this and I’m not sure who she is. Kate M) Bec said in some places you can choose burial but people don’t because cremation is cheaper.
- NSW is getting VAD in a few months
- Pyres are allowed in Tasmania on Aboriginal land.
- John Donne dissection poetry
- You have to have a certain BMI to be donated
- Uni do get full up, sometimes they prioritise some bodies over others (speculation by Kate M who is a POA for a 99 yo friend who’s being donated)
August 14, 2023
This is deep, comprehensive, considerate, and very easy to read. It makes a daunting subject approachable and familiar.
It only loses a star for the somewhat naff - but thankfully infrequent - inclusion of Google reviews. Yes, I'm aware of the irony of mentioning that in a Goodreads review.
It only loses a star for the somewhat naff - but thankfully infrequent - inclusion of Google reviews. Yes, I'm aware of the irony of mentioning that in a Goodreads review.
September 5, 2023
A fascinating look at an often ignored topic. Might have been five stars if it weren't for the poor narration and overly casual tone in the introductory chapters ("ermagherd I'm writing a book about death isn't that really weird you guys?").
November 21, 2023
Jackie Dent takes us on a beautifully curated tour of anatomy's history, the ethics of body acquisition, use and donation, and her own journey to find out what happened to her body-donor grandparents.
With the help of friends, family, anthropologists, artists, anatomists and others, she anatomises anatomy with a sensitivity, respect and compassion for the donors, an appreciation for the gifts of knowledge and the way dissection has improved our understanding of ourselves physically, philosophically and medically, and the curiosity and delicacy of the anatomists.
I strongly advise you get a set of sticky tabs before you open the book, because it's a treasure trove of information worth chasing up and going back to. (Sorry to my phone, which now has a million Google Chrome tabs open for further reading.)
The only other thing left to do is to read it to my dog a few more times until he learns to treat his toys with the same compassion and respect anatomists treat people with, and that Jackie treats her contributors, readers and the discipline with.
With the help of friends, family, anthropologists, artists, anatomists and others, she anatomises anatomy with a sensitivity, respect and compassion for the donors, an appreciation for the gifts of knowledge and the way dissection has improved our understanding of ourselves physically, philosophically and medically, and the curiosity and delicacy of the anatomists.
I strongly advise you get a set of sticky tabs before you open the book, because it's a treasure trove of information worth chasing up and going back to. (Sorry to my phone, which now has a million Google Chrome tabs open for further reading.)
The only other thing left to do is to read it to my dog a few more times until he learns to treat his toys with the same compassion and respect anatomists treat people with, and that Jackie treats her contributors, readers and the discipline with.
February 8, 2024
Really interesting to see what’s going on with contemporary Aus body donation and anatomy worldwide. Very well researched. Much much to google now. The authors story of her grandparents donation served well as an impetus to the book but didn’t do much else and I often skimmed the parts that were mostly just her imagining their motivations and feelings?? (Sorry the factual stuff was just infinitely more interesting and I have no relation to these people).
Also the hand-wringing about whether finding death/bodies/dissection too strange or morbid an interest is just annoying at this point. We all picked up a book called ‘the great dead body teachers’. We are all going to die. This is your audience. You know?
Also the hand-wringing about whether finding death/bodies/dissection too strange or morbid an interest is just annoying at this point. We all picked up a book called ‘the great dead body teachers’. We are all going to die. This is your audience. You know?
May 9, 2023
Jackie writes in such a way that you feel you're also part of the journey into the anatomy world on the quest to find answers about her grandparents who donated their bodies to science. A fascinating read full of insights and forays behind closed doors that are generally denied to the public at large. The book answers so many questions but sparks so many more, and I found myself stopping frequently to do further research into more specific topics and anatomists. I loved this book from start to finish and would give it a 5 star rating if not for occasional typos, which interrupted the flow of reading at times.
June 8, 2023
This took me a while to get through as I was listening to it in the car. A fascinating journey that has set me on my own path of discovery to decide if I want to donate my body and how to do it. Found the constant linkage back to her grandparents got a bit repetitive but I'm sure if I'd been reading rather than listening I'd have glossed over that. Have put "the silent teacher" on my to read list too. Loved the travel over the world and into so many of the different pathways involved excellent.
January 8, 2024
A self confessed 'deathie' like Jackie, I followed her travels in this book with a sense of wonder and a pang or two of envy. The anatomists, artists and others that help paint the picture of modern dissection are a fascinating and eclectic bunch. I particularly enjoyed the behind the scenes peak at the AFTER facility. I put down this book wondering if I was rethinking my plans for a natural burial in favour of body donation, such was the enlightening nature of Jackie's research.
August 25, 2023
Such a fascinating read about the history of body dissection and what’s it’s like today. I loved how this is was based in my home town and my alma mater UQ. Inspires me to learn more about the human body and biology. Highly recommend this to anyone interested in medical science or death.
April 23, 2023
I’m so happy I picked up this book, what an interesting read.
June 8, 2023
Loved this. So fascinating and brilliantly written
October 29, 2023
There’s some interesting content in here
December 6, 2025
Okay? Thought it would be more insightful.
January 13, 2026
Fascinating!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews